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plant took the machine off their hands." Owen Matheson was employed by the power company to operate the engine. Ann Jones Gardner made the following note in her scrapbook : "Our home was the first house wired for electricity in town, so of c o m e it was a real occasion. Ferd Hintze was here courting Henrietta, and Willard and Sophia and I came home for Christma3 in 1907 to be here when the electric lights were turned on for the first time in Cedar City." Ann and Willard were attending the Unive~sity Utah. of The light plant was operated from sundown until 11 :30 P.M. and on two days of the week it was operated for a half of the day for washing and ironing. The following schedule of prices was adopted as a flat-rate: One 16 candle power light. . . $.50 per month. Minimum meter rate. . . $1.00. Any amount of power used over the minimum rate was 10 cents per I000 watts or K.W.H. In the spring of 1908 after the canals had been repaired, the water was turned into the system again and the steam engine was to run the generator in emergencies only, because of the high operating cost. In order to cover the cost of materials involved in building the power plant, along with the equipment, labor costs, power poles, etc., the committee negotiated a loan from the Bank of Southern Utah in Cedar City. Actually, the costs were kept at a minimum hecause much of the labor was donated by the committee and others, but the costs mounted until the outlay reached approximately $40,000.00. Because of the constant repairs and operating expenses, the income was not sufficient to pay hack any of this money. The committee had planned on the city assuming the debt and taking over the operation of the power plant as soon as the plant was in steady operation but, because of the opposition from many Cedar City citizens, the city officials refused to assume the debt or take over the plant. Much of the objection was from businessmen who sold other types of lighting. I n the early years of the power plant the operation was not very dependal~le and the city felt it was not a very good business venture. Since there was no other alternative, the committee continued to operate the power plant the best way they could. The committe had all kinds of problems to cope with in order to keep the power plant going. In the winter, the water froze in the ditches and ran very slowly, or not at all, unless someone kept the ditches cleaned. This job had to he done by hand and it was an extremely difficult task to fix them without horses or machinery. It was important to keep the water running so that the walls of the ditch would not break. Once when the tunnel jammed with ice, Lehi W., along with some other men, was working to keep it open. I.ehi had his son, Henry, with him. Henry was sent through the tunnel to clean out the ice. By the time he 168
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plant took the machine off their hands." Owen Matheson was employed by the power company to operate the engine. Ann Jones Gardner made the following note in her scrapbook : "Our home was the first house wired for electricity in town, so of c o m e it was a real occasion. Ferd Hintze was here courting Henrietta, and Willard and Sophia and I came home for Christma3 in 1907 to be here when the electric lights were turned on for the first time in Cedar City." Ann and Willard were attending the Unive~sity Utah. of The light plant was operated from sundown until 11 :30 P.M. and on two days of the week it was operated for a half of the day for washing and ironing. The following schedule of prices was adopted as a flat-rate: One 16 candle power light. . . $.50 per month. Minimum meter rate. . . $1.00. Any amount of power used over the minimum rate was 10 cents per I000 watts or K.W.H. In the spring of 1908 after the canals had been repaired, the water was turned into the system again and the steam engine was to run the generator in emergencies only, because of the high operating cost. In order to cover the cost of materials involved in building the power plant, along with the equipment, labor costs, power poles, etc., the committee negotiated a loan from the Bank of Southern Utah in Cedar City. Actually, the costs were kept at a minimum hecause much of the labor was donated by the committee and others, but the costs mounted until the outlay reached approximately $40,000.00. Because of the constant repairs and operating expenses, the income was not sufficient to pay hack any of this money. The committee had planned on the city assuming the debt and taking over the operation of the power plant as soon as the plant was in steady operation but, because of the opposition from many Cedar City citizens, the city officials refused to assume the debt or take over the plant. Much of the objection was from businessmen who sold other types of lighting. I n the early years of the power plant the operation was not very dependal~le and the city felt it was not a very good business venture. Since there was no other alternative, the committee continued to operate the power plant the best way they could. The committe had all kinds of problems to cope with in order to keep the power plant going. In the winter, the water froze in the ditches and ran very slowly, or not at all, unless someone kept the ditches cleaned. This job had to he done by hand and it was an extremely difficult task to fix them without horses or machinery. It was important to keep the water running so that the walls of the ditch would not break. Once when the tunnel jammed with ice, Lehi W., along with some other men, was working to keep it open. I.ehi had his son, Henry, with him. Henry was sent through the tunnel to clean out the ice. By the time he 168
.